Remington Pearl Wand

That's right my lovelies, I have just bought the Remington Pearl Curling Wand. They've been around for rather a long time, but I've never invested in one. The reason is due to the fact that my hair is very thick (I'll get to that in a moment), slightly course and slightly curly, which tends to frizz if I leave it out to air dry, which is why my hair is always up in a ponytail or bun, because that way it's manageable, presentable and out of the way. So, I was saying my hair is thick. This is not an understatement. I have approximately 4-5 times the amount of hair that normal girls have. When I have a trim at the hair salon, women walk past and are astounded at the amount that has come off and normally comment on how most girls would have practically no hair after losing that amount. It's very embarrassing, that's all I know. I own a pair of thinning scissors, so I thin my hair out at home - not to lose volume, because my hair makes losing volume impossible - so when I straighten it or style it (both of which is rare), it is easier, takes less time and I have less hair to style ha ha! 

This is a blurry picture taken with my camcorder (I think the light setting was wrong). It's resting on a heat proof pouch, which, in turn, is resting on my leg, please excuse my chunk-tastic thighs ha ha!

And here is me holding the wand with the heat resistant glove that it comes with (here the curling wand it turned off). You can still feel the heat through the glove and it will hurt your fingers, should you lean your hand for too long against it whilst curling.

Now, I never got around to telling you why I don't curl my hair. I have, over the years, bought curling tongs, both large and small barrelled, the Babyliss Curling Press, curling tongs of all types, of all prices, etc, etc - the list goes on. Not once did I get a lovely effect that each product promises, and about 80% of the time I would get about half way through the tremendous amount of hair that I have (which normally took around 50 minutes for just one half of my hair, mind you), become frustrated at the time it was taking to make lame curls which were already falling out, turn off *insert curling item name here* and go take a shower to wash out the crappy, limp waves.

I've seen loads of YouTube videos on these wands and everyone insists it's the best thing since sliced bread, colour TV - you name it, they've said it.I don't normally get sucked into buying something because others say it's good - after all, I know my own hair better than they do - but I was intrigued. Plus, Argos are selling them for only £17 ish (on sale) at the moment, so I reserved one and bought it today. I rushed home, read the instructions and began using it.

Look, I managed to curl all the hair on my head, and it only took about 40ish minutes! I don't think it's too bad for my first try :)

I'm quite impressed with the results, more impressed than I ever was with any other curling tong/press/crappy device. It's been about an hour and a half since I finished my hair and used some hairspray to give it a little hold. The curls aren't as tight as they were when they were first done, but they haven't turned into the normal limp, unattractive tendrils I usually get, so I'm happy.

Do you own a curling wand, tong, press, etc? What do you think of it? Do you have any tips or tricks to get your curly hair to stay all day? I'd love to know!

Hugs x

My current makeup routine

Hello there my beautiful people, just a quick update on my life and makeup. I went to my friend's wedding; she looked stunning, and I finally got to meet her husband for the first time, and she got to meet mine for the first time too which was funny and lovely. We saw the Olympic torch run right past the hotel she got married in (shortly after the ceremony) and she even got to have her photo taken with the torch, which was brilliant!

I've kept up with my fake tan routine because I'm just loving being this tan at the moment, I feel so much better, and loads of people ask me if I've been lying around in the sun, which of course I haven't, even though the weather has been amazing for the past week. In fact I love it so much I did a YouTube video on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDSFbvkZ2Wg

This is a picture I took yesterday afternoon just after the makeup was done. It only took me 14 minutes to make up my entire face. What makes it easier is having these insanely long eyelash extensions as I have no real need for eyeshadow or mascara at the moment, so I'm just loving that!

Hope you're all enjoying the summer sun (at last),

Hugs x

Eyelash Extensions, Fake tan, Fake Nails... Oh my!

Yes, you read that correctly. I am covered - top to toe - in fakery. My hair is dyed black (has been for a couple of years), my skin is golden brown, my lashes are thick, curly and long, my nails are in acrylic pink-and-white french manicure. "Why?" you might ask. Well, I'm going to my friend's wedding tomorrow and I wanted to look my best. I think I went a little overboard...

I look much darker than normal, don't I? It's kind of scary, seeing as how normally I'm as pale as milk haha! I used Soltan Beautiful Bronze Self Tanning Gel to achieve this colour. Normally I use my Xen-Tan but I seem to have misplaced my bottle of it. At the moment Boots is doing a "3 for 2" offer, so three bottles is £18 which works out at £6 a bottle, which is cheap and cheerful. I was afraid the fake tan would turn me orange, but it hasn't, which is a God-send!

Check out my insanely long eyelashes! I had them done yesterday in a salon down the road from me. The products used were all Polish, and they were applied by a lovely Polish girl who was so brilliant at her work. My lashes have never been so thick and lustrous looking. I love my new eyelashes!

And here is moi all faked up to the nines and ready for my friend's wedding tomorrow. I had to use a small amount of my Double Wear foundation mixed with a couple of drops of bronzer to even out my face, then used a little bronzing powder to very lightly contour my face (it's still too fat to contour properly) and added a bit of highlighter to my cheek bones.

I'm probably going to be the only one at the wedding with a tan, because England's seen about 6 days of sunlight in the last 7 weeks or so due to rain, rain, rain and more rain... Oh, did I mention that it's been raining a lot here..? The weather has been unseasonably cold, summer is almost here and the only evidence that spring turned up is that the trees all have leaves now. I'm wrapped up in a quilt on the sofa right now! Oh well...

Anyone else out there that loves to fake up, or do you lovelies like to keep it more natural looking? I'd love to know :)

Hugs x

My Weight Watchers Journey

Ok, so this blog post will have nothing to do with makeup and I won't be talking about the makeup that I have on in my pictures because, quite frankly, it's irrelevant to this post. I joined Weight Watchers in Feb 2012, and have been with them for 12 weeks so far. At first, I hated it; I was hungry, snappy and irritable from my very sudden diet change. Carbs have become a big 'no no' as I like to call them. So has most meat, really. And cheese. Mmmm, cheese. Pro Points really are the way forward when you want to lose weight though, it's just not as easy as you'd think.

People join WW as they believe it's going to be easy, and there are more than the fair share of some people that are willing to feed you bullsh*t about how simple and easy it is. They'd have you believe that no one 'falls off the wagon'. Let me tell you now, it isn't easy. It isn't particularly nice, having to cut out the cakes and crisps and chocolate (the 3 deadly C's), plus much more. It certainly isn't easy when your favourite Ben and Jerry's Icecream is at half price in the shops, or when your other half/friends/family eat things in front of or offer you food you shouldn't eat.

My WW journey has been an uphill struggle. I'm not saying that there have been times when I've gained weight, but there have been a couple of weeks and the scales have barely moved down. It's really easy (surprisingly so) to lose motivation, or to wonder why in the heck you're bothering to do it. I'm a big girl. A very big girl, and have been all my life. I have so many stretch marks it isn't even funny, and now I'm losing weight my skin is starting to sag just a little. My boobs have become droopy, which has me depressed quite a lot. It's tempting to stay fat just so I don't become a slimmer me but with all that creepy, excess skin hanging off my arms and belly. Tempting... But not enough to stop me from continuing my WW journey.

When I first joined WW, three months ago, I topped the scale at a hefty 19st 6lbs (272lbs or 123.6 Kilos). I'm almost ashamed to admit it. I'm not the fattest person around but at only 5ft 6inches high I needed to do something about it. Believe it or not, I do actually have big bones (for example, my bone structure and width is similar to a male structure of the same height; I have a large rib cage and large lungs, wide wrists, hips and feet etc), but I wouldn't dream about trying to blame my weight on that. My resting heartbeat was 89 beats a minute. Yes, you read that correctly. Scary? Very much so!

This picture above (is just my face, I know, I know) was taken just before I started WW. I have the app on my iPhone, which has helped me track everything I eat, BEFORE I put it in my mouth. It's been a life saver while out shopping, believe me!

This picture above I took today (11th May 2011). I now weigh in at 17st 3lbs, having lost 2st 3lbs (31 lbs or 14 Kilos) so far. I still have another 6st 3lbs to lose (minimum), but I'm slowly starting to feel a difference. My resting heartbeat (checked 3 minutes ago) is now 68 beats a minute. Not as slow as it should be, but it's getting there! My clothes are slowly becoming baggier. I can't wait 'til I start dropping dress sizes, but I don't think that'll happen 'til I lose at least another 14lbs.

Don't get me wrong; I have fallen off the wagon a couple of times. I ate a sneaky burger king meal one day and chinese another day (not in the same week, mind you) when I was feeling very hungry and my weak will deserted me. It goes to show as long as you get back on the wagon immediately after falling off and commit to your vision of losing weight again, you'll be fine.

Being all about beauty doesn't mean you should love the way you look on the outside only; take care of your insides too, they're the things that'll get you through to the end game! It's a hard lesson I'm learning now, but it's never too late to turn your life around xxx

This Is Why I'm Addicted to Makeup

This blog has been about looks and makeup - of course it has - because makeup has the ability to cover flaws, accentuate your best features and hide your worst ones. The possibility of makeup is endless. You can be a plain Jane just like me, with pigmentation and scars, large pores, broken blood vessels and skinny eyebrows - and makeup can make it all go away. You may want to look naturally flawless, you may want to look striking or stunning, cute and playful, dark and dramatic. Makeup will allow you to do it. I wish I was naturally beautiful, with smooth, even skin, but I'm on the other end of the spectrum. Look!

Ok, this picture was taken in natural daylight. I have NO products on my face. My eyebrows are non existent, my skin looks dull. I have pigmentation under one of my eyes, colourless lips as well as broken blood vessels on my cheeks and large pores. Even if you can't see it in this picture, believe me, they're all there. I'll tell you something; I hate going outside without makeup on my face. I feel naked, vulnerable and exposed with no makeup on.

With the help of foundation, eyeshadow primer, eyeshadow, blusher, lipstick, lipgloss and mascara I can transform my tired skin and flawed faced into something much closer to flawless and I feel more alive, brighter and more cheerful:

The transformation is quite shocking, isn't it? My eyebrows are filled in, my skin is more luminous and a more uniform colour, with the blusher where I want it to be. My eyes look more awake thanks to mascara, my lips have some colour and shine from just a touch of lipstick and gloss.


This is why I'm addicted to makeup.



Big Love to y'all out there xx

Pale English Rose

It's finally heading into spring here in England, although you'd hardly believe it, with the freezing cold nights, chilly days and the thunderstorm with lightning that we had only yesterday. But spring is officially arriving, the daffodils are out, the first green leaves are coming out on the trees and very soon the whole of England will be lush and green. Even though I have seen a lot of places in the world, I cannot help but think England can be one of the most beautiful places on earth when summer is in full swing.

As anyone that is makeup-mad like me will know that spring colours are IN right now, but I have never been one to conforming to seasonal colours. I like to head my own way and do my own thing. Also I happen to be an Urban Decay eyeshadow addict, and their colours are hardly neutral, but still... Today I decided to do a pale, English Rose look:

As y'all know, I have a pale-as-milk complexion, and this look is really easy to pull off. I used my Estée Lauder Double Wear Foundation in 1C1 Shell, all over my face. It is really full coverage foundation, and even though I kept the foundation use to a minimum, I still used a tad too much... Oh well, nevermind...

Agh! Super strange weird closeup! My eye looks cross-eyed... Hmmm... *Ahem* As you can see, I've filled in my eyebrows to make them much thicker than they really are to help give a more *cough* youthful appearance. I'm wearing my Max Factor Blusher in Classic Rose to help give me a nice colour on my cheeks after wearing such heavy foundation. My lips have almost no colour, which is very embarrassing; to get the achieved colour here I had Benetint stain on my lips, followed by Lancome's Le Rouge Absolu in Pink Diamond, followed by the tiniest touch of Nivea's Glamorous Gloss in Pink Sugar, for extra hydration as my lips have been super dry recently...

 

Ok, so for my eyes I used my Too Faced Shadow Insurance, and then applied two basic Urban Decay eyeshadows for a neutral, understated look; Sellout over the entire lid and over the entire lower lash line, with a dusting of Mushroom on the outer corners to add depth. I tightlined and carefully lined my upper lash line in Urban Decay's 24/7 liner in Zero to make my lashes appear fuller. My Asian-inherited eyelashes are straight, so needed lots of curling with my eyelash curler and two coats of L'Oreal False Lash Telescopic mascara. Finally I finished off my look, lining my waterline with a white khol eyeliner pencil by NYC.

So there you have it; a pale English Rose makeup look that's perfect for spring and can be worn anywhere, any place, any time! Have fun guys x

My tips and tricks of using Highlighters

I love highlighters. I have two; a liquid highlighter called "High Beam" by Benefit:

                               And I have a powder highlighter called "Light 01" by Bourjois:

Highlighters are simply fabulous. You don't have to use them all the time, but they are so useful that I find myself reaching for one or both of them every time I put my makeup on. If my skin is looking dull or fatigued and I want a quick pick me up, then I mix a few drops of High Beam in with my foundation. It gives my skin a healthy glow and makes me feel like a million dollars:

                                  LOL at my face powder in my hair, making my hair look grey!
Ahem... Anyway... To make my eyes look brighter, fresher and more awake (without the use of eye drops, because even though I LOVE them, they're not particularly good for your eyes), I use the bright, Bourjois highlighter in the inner corners of my eyes, around the tear ducts and blend down into the lower lashes for instantly brighter, less-tired-looking eyes:

I also like to use the powder OR liquid highlighter on the top of my cupid's bow on my lips because my top lip is teeny tiny. Apparently it can make your lips appear fuller, but I don't think it makes much difference to my lips *sigh*:

 I'm wearing lip gloss here to help make my lips appear fuller, which does a much better job - at least that's what I think.

So there are the joys of wearing highlighters on your face and how they can help you look or feel better when your skin is letting you down. Big Hugs x